Woods preparing for the British Open, his “favorite major”

Tiger Woods is preparing for next week's British Open which he says is his favorite major of the year.

"You can have so many different weather conditions," Woods wrote on his website on Friday. "You just don't know. That's one of the unique things about the British Open and why it's my favorite major championship."

Woods will be making his third British Open start at Royal Lytham and St. Annes. He finished T-22 as an amateur in 1996 and T-25 in 2001, when David Duval won his lone major.

The world No. 4 anticipates a softened host course because of the deluge of rain this summer, but is uncertain of how the R&A will set up the course to compensate.

"This year, it will be a little bit softer than it normally plays," he said. "But we don't know if it's going to rain or blow, so that adds different challenges as the week develops."

Woods said he will bring his 5-wood and 2-iron to Lytham and decide which to put in the bag based on the conditions. He used the 2-iron prolifically in his '06 British Open win at Royal Liverpool. He would like to be able to use that "stinger" effectively next week.

"It's the only tournament besides the sandbelt courses in Australia that we can actually use the ground as a friend and bounce the ball into the greens," Woods said. "Modern golf is all up in the air."

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Ryan Ballengee

Ryan Ballengee is founder and editor of Golf News Net. He has been writing and broadcasting about golf for over a decade, working for NBC Sports, Golf Channel, Yahoo Sports and SB Nation. Ballengee lives in the Washington, D.C. area with his family. He used to be a good golfer.

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